HIS-Press-Service, 1976 (1. évfolyam, 1. szám)
1976 / 1. szám
HIS Press Service, A Review of 1976 Page 4 government's administrative policy that in his time Cardinal Mindszenty had explained his unwillingness to resign as Archbishop of Esztergom because the Church in Hungary was not free. Lékai has accepted these restrictions as a given fact and instead intends to spend his efforts in utilizing the many possibilities still open in the area of pastoral care. In the present situation, however, these pastoral opportunities are encumbered by certain problems. It is not only the official materialistic ideology that makes for difficulties, but also the fact that government church politics places less emphasis on the ecclesiastical and religious questions arising in Hungary, or considers them not in themselves but only as partial components of other political factors. An objective point of view in these matters must thus often give way to a stronger influence stemming from a different area of concern. This in itself constitutes an intervention by the State in the internal affairs of the Church. Such intervention has as its primary aim, not a protection of Church interests, but rather an attempt to use the Church in the service of State interests. This practice can take various directions de- Church to serve State interests. This practice can take various directions depending upon which political sector is concerned. The Ministry of the Interior, for example, will have expectations which are totally different, or even in fact diametrically opposed, to those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In such a competition among different interests, it is usually the Church's position that suffers. The Church, and thus the faithful too, find themselves confronted by this selfserving position of the State not only in the political sector, but also in other areas of societal life, including that of public opinion. The results of this disruptive influence are clearly visible in the Hungarian Church's understanding of itself. A non-Hungarian observer, for example, would have a hard time understanding why Hungary's Church so often stresses the fact that a believer can contribute just as much to his country's development as a nonbeliever. The principle of using the Church to the State's advantage, which serves as the guiding factor of government church politics, can at times play a role in basic factors of Church life, such as in the case of the regulation of religious education in the churches. As is well known, since 1949 religious education is no longer compulsory in Hungary's primary and secondary schools. For reasons which are well understood, only 6-7% of the pupils in rural areas sign up for religious instruction. In Budapest and other large cities, religious instruction in the schools has sunk to a minimum, or does not even exist at all any more. An agreement reached between the Hungarian College of Bishops and the government in 1950 recognizes
